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Football player asks, where's the spirit?

Email: snelson@smu.edu

Published: Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 17:11

College football is a chance for a school to unite around its team and build spirit and camaraderie between its students, faculty and athletes. Most collegiate football schools get this, where students camp outside ticket offices or fans drive hours to cheer on their team.

Most schools thrive in this, except SMU. After having a dream come true with the invitation to walk-on to the football team in fall 2010, I believed I'd be able to be a part of watching SMU rise from the ashes and become a powerhouse. After back to back bowl trips and a 5-1 season record including a win over archrival TCU, I thought surely the days of empty stadiums and an uncaring student body were over. Boy was I wrong.

The UCF game was a testament to how stubborn and pathetic our student body is, and how our school has completely failed to capture the attention of a city.

It wasn't halfway through the second quarter when students began to whine about the heat and leave. I'm sorry you guys had to sit in your air conditioned homes during the summer while my teammates and I sweated in three months of 100 degree heat preparing for the season. I'm sorry a 38-17 whooping of the defending conference champs wasn't thrilling enough for you.

Our coaches and my teammates have spent countless hours in the film room and meetings getting ready (not to mention bringing national attention and thousands of new applicants each year) and this is how our community thanks us?

Don't be surprised now when I say it's more fun for us to play on the ROAD than it is at home. At least the opposing team's fans show up, and the game experience resembles what I dreamed about rather than the pee-wee football experience we have here where it seems only the players' parents are in the stands.

Granted, thanks must be given to the loyal student body that remains the whole game and actually knows what "Beans" is and the season ticket holder who had to endure years of embarrassment.

But those true fans only go three rows deep in the student section and are spread throughout the rest of the stadium. Part of the reason no one stays/comes in the first place is because the game experience is pitiful compared to what it could be.

We as players thrive off the energy of the crowd; it provides us with that extra boost to perform at our highest level. Hey, sound guy, turn the music up because I shouldn't be able to hear my friend next to me. Hey, announcer, let me know when it's third down so I can scream my head off.

I mean if TCU can set up an impressive billboard 100 feet from our stadium, I feel SMU can do better. We as a football team set the goal at the beginning of the season of being the BEST. Not average or good. The best. I suggest the student body and school do the same.

Stephen Nelson is a sophomore majoring in business with a minor in Spanish. He can be reached for comment at snelson@smu.edu

 

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3 comments Log in to Comment

GallopingGuy
Sat Oct 22 2011 17:01
Stephen,

I'm an alum as well, both of SMU and of the Hub of SMU Spirit. I completely understand your frustration. I was there for almost every game of the 0-12 season in 2003; I was annoyed when I learned how few people actually bothered to learn the words to Varsity or the tradition of excellence SMU once enjoyed; I was furious when I saw people wearing UT and OU gear instead of wearing the colors and letters of the university they were actually attending. It was, quite simply, maddening.

That said, I want to reiterate what RM said. You and your colleagues are doing what seemed impossible: You are making SMU football relevant and exciting again. I think a lot of people are hesitant to believe simply because they are afraid of being burned; they don't want to get emotionally invested just in time to see it fall apart. All they remember in recent years is SMU being virtually synonymous with failure on the football field. The spectacular work we're seeing from you and the rest of the team WILL change that perception. In fact, it's already starting: TCU is certainly standing up and taking notice at the fact that they are no longer the best college football team in the Metroplex, a mere year after they won the Rose Bowl.

There was a long time when the Mustang Band were practically the only ones standing right till the end. The numbers in the student section now may not be particularly impressive, but there are a lot more people there than there used to be. There will be more. This team IS changing the way people view SMU around the country.

Thank you for giving your time, sweat, and blood for this school.

kwlowry
Wed Oct 19 2011 14:12
Stephen,

I know that it is frustrating to not have the crowd into the games. I went to a high school where all of the alumni lived in the glory days and just sat down the whole game and barely cheered. As a huge college football fan and a student here I feel that our atmosphere is lacking just like you said. However, I don't think you can put this completely on the fans. If you go to schools that are good at football such as Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Oklahoma State they all have something that is a tradition of the football game. OU has the "Boomer Sooner" chant, Wisconsin plays "Jump Around" before the game, Penn State does the same with "Zombie Nation" and OSU with the "Orange Power". At SMU the fans are not allowed to get into the game. Whether it's the band not playing anything up beat, the sound guy not playing relevant songs that get the players fired up on the field, or the announcer getting the crowd into the game. SMU has nothing at the football games where people around the nation can say, "Oh that's what SMU does, we should do something like that." I was here for the last 1-11 season and it was miserable to stay and watch. Even at Oklahoma State when their football was not as relevant as it is now people still stayed at the game because it was fun and had a college-like atmosphere. I am ecstatic that SMU is on the rise and would like to see everyone stay at the game for the entire time. But, until things start to happen at the game where the fans can get excited, not just about winning, I feel like it will stay this way and people will end up going to Barley House at halftime to watch the end of the game.

RM
Wed Oct 19 2011 11:17
Stephen,
As an alum, first and foremost I want to thank you, your teammates and coaches for doing something that NEVER happened while I was at SMU: make football relevant, exciting and successful. It was none of those things when I went to school over a decade ago, and my fear is that a lot of your frustration stems from a culture that is not used to embracing on-field success because it is still quite foreign to us. It will take time for folks to realize that this is for real, and they will start to come back. I was at the UCF game with my family from opening kick through the last note of Varsity, and I share your frustration at the ineptitude of the students (who previously seemed to be much more supportive this year) and lack of support from the community at large. All I can tell you is to keep doing what you do; you guys are on a magical run that is bound to draw attention, and with that attention will come the kind of spirit you all deserve. Changing the culture of SMU athletics is a marathon, not a sprint. It won't be one game, one season that will bring the masses back; but as you continue your climb, I think you will find there is more support out there than you currently see. Keep the faith, beat the heck out of USM, and know that there are many of us behind you, even when it may not feel like it.

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